This past Sunday we got the boys their first pet, a guinea pig named Pinky that previously belonged to some friends from church. I honestly don’t know what possessed me to say, “Ok, we’ll try her out for a week, and if we’re not allergic, we’ll keep her.” Maybe it’s because lately the boys have been hounding me, “Can we have a cat in our home? Can we have a dog in our home?” and since I’m miserably allergic to cats and didn’t want the responsibility or cost of a pet that would ever require medical attention or grooming, I thought a guinea pig would be a fair compromise. I have a hard enough time remembering to take my own children to the doctor for their yearly check-ups (the twins' appointment is currently two months overdue), they have never been to the dentist, and it’s been over four years since I’ve had my hair cut in a professional establishment, so I couldn't fathom having to throw vet and grooming appointments into the mix.
When I agreed to take Pinky, I guess it didn’t occur to me that while guinea pigs may be more expendable than dogs, they still poop a lot and beg for food a lot. Pinky has far less shame than the demure rabbits I raised when I was a child, and will whine aggressively at us until we feed her. Thankfully, she seems to enjoy eating our discards (strawberry tops, carrot and cucumber peels, apple cores, and broccoli stalks). And since I’m apparently not allergic to her, and since the boys are so enamored with her, I have a feeling she is here to stay.
Unfortunately, I think her name is here to stay, too. We tried to encourage the boys to think of a new name for her, after all, “What was the name of your first pet?” is a common security question, and I was therefore concerned about the possible repercussions of a wussy name like “Pinky” haunting the boys for the rest of their lives. After some brainstorming, Joshua had settled on the name “Creed,” Caleb wanted to call her “Cranberry,” and Moses said he thought she should be named “Tigger.” But as soon as the original owners told the boys that her name was Pinky, they embraced it. Oh well. Now you will know how to hack into their online accounts twenty years from now.
Yeah! Addison can't wait to meet Pinky... she is wondering if Pinky is REALLY soft or just kind of soft... and where she sleeps... and about 50 more guinea pig questions that I missed while I was typing the first two! :)
ReplyDeleteps. I had no idea that you were allergic to cats, how did you survive our childhood years with my monster of a cat?????
:) You can tell Addison that Pinky is very soft for a guinea pig, but only kind of soft in the grand scheme of pet mammals. She sleeps in a translucent purple igloo! And I didn't develop this horrible cat allergy til later in life, like high school or college. All of that quality time that I spent with Sasser probably helped me develop an immunity to cats in my early years, delaying the inevitable allergy til I was older and not hanging around cats very often :)
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